"She saved me."

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“The adult with me is a teacher at my school, Heidi Willis. I have known her for three years now, and we have become so close she is more like family. So I started calling her my aunt. In my picture it states ‘She Saved Me,’ because when I first met her I started to fall back into my path of depression that I had back in middle school. When I was in foster care, at age 10, I was abused by my foster dad, and also lost someone who I was very close to. This all led me into that depression.

“Heidi was with me through it all, especially at my lowest when I wanted to end my life. From her being there for me she made me feel so much better and ultimately kept me from making that mistake. But recently this year I lost my grandma and that triggered back up my depression. The first thing I did was go to her and tell her what was happening. She found out that our school-based health center offers counseling to students who do not have health insurance. She strongly encouraged me to go there and see if I could set up an appointment. So I did. Since then, I have realized how grateful I am to have her in my life because without her I wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't have found out about the help I could receive at the health center.”